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ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES
TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
by
Lorraine M. Perez
________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2011
Copyright 2011 Lorraine M. Perez

This study used a purposeful sample of three southern California elementary schools that are in a K-12 basic aid school district. These schools are outperforming similar schools and were studied to determine the instructional strategies and resource use patterns used to support their continual improvement process. The methods used to gather the information include interview data, performance data and information on school level resource use. The Evidence Based Model, developed by Odden and Picus (2008), which identifies the elements of a school-wide instructional program that research has shown to be effective in improving student performance,was used as the framework for analyzing the resource use patterns of the study schools. The findings indicate that although the resources available to the study schools were significantly fewer than what the Evidence Based Model suggests, the improvement strategies showed many commonalities to those suggested in the body of literature on school improvement. Analysis of the case studies indicates that the schools used the following improvement strategies that are commonly seen in the literature on effective schools: identifying performance challenges and setting clear and concise goals to address the challenges, a common focus on strong instructional practices and the use of data to make decisions that can inform practice, the use of collaboration among all stakeholders to improve student achievement, and continued professional development based on the Professional Learning Communities model.

ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES
TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
by
Lorraine M. Perez
________________________________________________________
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
May 2011
Copyright 2011 Lorraine M. Perez